Pompote, partnered with Treyst, is the top player of four new qualifiers for the Altered World Championship Finals 2025 after winning the Qualifier event in Lille, France, July 6. The final saw him claiming victory over Etigma’s Afanas. Sparky, partnered with Nevenka, and Kentin, teamed up with Afanas, rounded out the Top 4 for the event, earning their tickets to the Finals.

The 660-player event, organized through a partnership with Ludotrotter, proved to be the largest by player count so far. It also spanned the most time, with the first day of the event covering 11 rounds of Swiss best of 1 and the second day beginning with the Top 32 cut running into a single elimination best of 3. It was streamed via Twitch with English and French commentary.

A total of 660 players played matches over two days at Lille. Photos by Vincent Maynadié.

Kojo was the leader among decklists, taking 112 of them for himself with Afanas close behind at 100. Sigismar picked up third at 87, while Fen and Teija shared 63 each. Arjun and Waru were represented, but only by one player each (aligning with how the two narrowly shared last place in competitive play distribution for all of June). The Top 32 treated Afanas drastically better than Kojo, however. A full 14 (almost half) of the top cut were Afanas decks, with Sigismar making up another eight. Treyst had four decks still in play and Basira managed two. Atsadi, Nevenka, Teija and Kojo all only scraped one deck through to the top cut. A total of 61% of cards played among the Top 32 were from BTG, with 21% coming from TBF and 18% from WFM.

Pompote’s Treyst deck makes effective use of the Axiom hero’s card advantage and capability to play strong cards more cheaply from reserve. Five of the deck’s rares are permanents, including two Kelon Cylinders and three Havens (newly updated after the TBF mid-season patch errata pulling it off the suspension list). Three rare Hooked provide some interruption while adding options to cards in hand. Three rare Dr. Frankenstein and Axiom Salvagers connect to those permanents for mana-efficient activation alongside stats. Finally, one rare Grems (along with two common versions) take a wrecking ball to opponent permanents. Nearly all of the deck’s commons either provide boosts on playing from reserve, add cards to reserve or allow exhausted cards to be played. The deck’s most dangerous feature is a trio of unique Anansi (2/1, 3/1 and 4/2) that all allow a card to be added from hand to reserve before giving counting boosts for the character, played from both hand and reserve. One of them, the 4/2, has a separate ability that activates from reserve that gains boosts based on the number of cards in reserve a second time.

Prizing and upcoming qualifiers

Pompote, Etigma, Sparky and Kentin have joined Popeye on the growing list of finalists headed with travel and accommodation paid to Paris for the World Championship Finals later this year. The first place prize included a trophy, an exclusive playmat, eight hero boosters, 14 organized play boosters and a foiled Adventure Pack, along with four WFM displays, two BTG KS displays, a €500 voucher and 20 uniques. Players placing through eighth received exclusive playmats, a foiled Tumult track and decreasing amounts of standard, organized play and hero boosters. All players received at least four WFM boosters, one hero booster, one OP booster and one unique.

Players may join any qualifier regardless of their nationality and may play in as many as they like. The dates for the three online qualifier events were recently released as the next regional events approach.